Nightmare Star
by Aeondragon
Summary: The explosion of corrupted power decimated the village. The monsters and the plague devastated the survivors. The village was on the brink of annihilation. Blinding light bursts to life within the darkness. Can he save the world or will he fall into the abyss? Naruto x Mikoto


******Well, I decided that I'd post this now. **If you read my profile, you'll know what this story is about. If not, well, I'll go into it a bit. It's sort of a crossover with InFamous and Prototype, though more of the latter. It's probably going to be darker than most of my other stories so far. At the very least, it'll be gorier. This story is a major AU, with a rather confusing timeline. Really, the most major thing that has changed (aside from the story and everything else) is people's ages. I didn't feel like coming up with names, so most of the Konoha 12 will be aged quite a bit (at least five years, maybe more). There'll be a lot of other changes, and a lot of them may be inconsistent, but I hope it works.

** I have a question that I want to put up, so I thought I'd throw this up ASAP, even though it isn't going to be my priority for a while. The question is: Should I write the story in first or third person. It'd be easier to write it in first, so I can narrate Naruto's thoughts easier, but I know a lot of people don't like it. **

**Anyway, here's the prologue. I hope everyone likes it.**

* * *

Prologue – Konoha Falls

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office, doing some last minute paperwork, in a futile effort to keep his mind off the subject. His successor had just sacrificed himself to defeat the greatest demon of them all. His thoughts drifted towards the infant sleeping in the hospital, currently under heavy guard. He shook his head as he signed another form.

Suddenly, he shivered. Something was wrong. He glanced down at the crystal ball on his desk. An artifact from the founding of the village, the seals on the crystal allowed the Hokage to view anything within the boundaries of the village from his office. He decided to zoom out to see what was going on, and let out a gasp. A red light was emanating from the hospital.

Sarutobi watched in horror as the light spread from Konoha's Central Hospital to encompass almost a tenth of the village. Then, the light seemed to retreat to the hospital. He could hear screams that suddenly cut out. Was it over? He wondered. The answer came a moment later, as a blast of light erupted from the building. He watched in horror as the light obliterated the hospital and much of the surrounding area. The entire village was shaking so badly that he could feel it, even in his protected office.

From the bird's eye view, he was able to see as the village seemed to break apart. The explosion had damaged something beneath the village, and he watched in horror as portions of the village seemed to sink into the ground. Moments later, the image became distorted and began to fade. The explosion had damaged the walls of the village, which had disrupted the seal network that defined the boundary. Without it, the crystal ball was little more than fancy glass.

Sarutobi shot to his feet with a curse, already beginning to form hand seals. This didn't look good at all. And on the eve of the Kyuubi's attack too. Couldn't he get just one night of peace?

* * *

_One week later_

Sarutobi sighed in dismay for what must have been the hundredth time this week. The village was almost unrecognizable. The explosion had apparently destroyed a massive network of underground tunnels beneath the village. Thankfully, the Hokage tower and the surrounding area had been relatively protected. There were almost no tunnels beneath the area, and none at all beneath the tower. He was looking into why there would be tunnels under his village.

Unfortunately, he had bigger problems to worry about. Namely, that less than a quarter of his village was even partially intact. The rest of the village had sunk into the ground. It seemed that the village had been physically divided.

The deepest part of the village was impossible to see from the upper level. He'd sent a team of ANBU to investigate, but they hadn't had much luck. Apparently, the explosion had caused some sort of radiation that interfered with some forms of external chakra use, including those used in the tree climbing exercise.

They had managed to confirm that there were three 'islands'. The Hokage tower and surrounding area, which consisted of a sixth of the original village, were now being called Upper Konoha. The area just below, which contained a bit more than a quarter of it, was called Lower Konoha. The final area, which contained the remaining intact portion of the village, almost half of the original, was being called Deep Konoha, or just The Depths. The Depths was where the Hospital had once been, and it contained the darker portions of the village.

He'd sent a team of volunteers, equipped with radios and other communication gear, as well as foodstuffs and other things the survivors might need, down to the other two levels. Thankfully, it seemed that many jutsu still worked, although they needed far more chakra to function correctly. They'd created an earth ramp to connect the levels. Unfortunately, it had exhausted a team of ten jounin to create even a temporary ramp, as the radiation seemed to drain the chakra out of the jutsu, somehow affecting even the results of a successful technique. Considering that, after dispatching the teams, he had less than fifty at his disposal right now, that was a serious loss. Luckily, the communication gear was functional, and they had been able to get more info on the situation.

The situation was not looking good. An advance scout, who had ventured into the Depths, had reported that a large number of individuals within The Depths seemed to have been infected with some sort of plague, and even a small number of Lower Konoha's populace had been affected. They were forced to keep the infected away from others, in case the disease was contagious. He had to wait for the second team to get set up, in order to find out the whole situation down there.

Sarutobi glanced at another paper. This one was a medical report. Konoha Central had not been the only hospital within the village, but it had been the largest. With many still hurt after the Kyuubi attack, the remaining hospitals and clinics were hard pressed to help them all. Especially since a number of individuals seemed to be passing out and not waking up. It was not the plague, the few remaining medics he had access to were certain of that much, but more than a tenth of his people had fallen unconscious.

What's more, the majority of the clan homes had been situated in the areas that were now deep underground. What would become of them, he didn't know. He wondered if it was a good thing that most of the council was missing or distracted. At the moment, only the Hokage could make laws, and the council couldn't meet to dispute them. As of now, he was the absolute ruler of Konohagakure and its inhabitants.

Of course, he thought bitterly, its not like he had much to enforce his laws. Some shinobi had reported to the teams he had sent down, waiting for orders. Others had not done so. He feared that, soon, people would begin to take advantage of the situation. The Depths would be the worst, as the team he'd organized to go down that far would take another week to get set up.

He'd sent a message to the Uchiha Police force, but they had problems of their own. Apparently, the compound was split in half, part on Lower Konoha, and the rest in the Depths. He had no idea what was going to happen. He had no idea how to fix his beloved village.

He rose to his feet. He'd had enough of contemplating the situation for now. It wouldn't do any good for him to dwell on the subject. Better to do what he could in the present, rather than mourn the past.

Hiruzen made his way out of his office, making his way out of the building. Just walking through the tower showed how bad the situation was. Normally, he'd pass dozens of people on each floor. He encountered sixteen people total. Sixteen people, in the most important building in the village.

He shook his head as he left the tower. He decided to take a visit to the medical compound. The various clinics and minor hospitals had decided to band together and establish a central location, so they could treat as many patients as possible.

He felt a strange heat as he walked through Upper Konoha. The heat grew more intense the more he walked. His strength was leaving him. Sarutobi gestured to a passing jounin, requesting assistance. The ninja had just reached him, when his eyes closed and he passed out.

* * *

_Three Days Later_

Sarutobi woke with a groan, scaring the man who had come to check up on him.

"Lord Hokage!"

"Is that you, Captain Yakushi?" Sarutobi asked. His vision was blurry.

"Indeed, sir. You've been out for three days now."

"Three days? But how…?" He'd been unconscious for three whole days? Thankfully, medic ninja were used to shinobi straining themselves, and had procedures to deal with short term comas like these. He could barely feel any sort of weakness.

"Yes, sir. It seems that many of the coma victims have been waking up in the past few days. After intensive research, we have come to the hypothesis that some individuals react to the radiation. We have taken to calling them Conduits, due to the way they channel the radiation. Some of them have developed strange abilities. Even those who have not yet exhibited any special traits seem to have improved physical abilities."

"Strange. If I am one of these Conduits, why was I unaffected earlier?"

"I suspect that it was because you spent the majority of your time in the Hokage Mansion. The building has protective seals that might have kept out the radiation. Of course, it might also be something else. We are operating off of mostly guesswork here. How do you feel, Hokage-sama?"

He closed his eyes for a moment. That strange heat was still inside of him, but he could barely feel it now. He concentrated on it, trying to identify it.

"Lord Hokage!" Dr. Yakushi cried.

Sarutobi's eyes shot open and he looked around. He glanced down and could only stare. It seems that he'd caught fire. Strange. He felt no pain, only a slight heat and tickling sensation. Why wasn't he worried?

"Some form of pyrokinesis, I would guess. Some sort of heat protection as well, I think. Congratulations, Hokage-sama. I suspect that the ability will prove most useful in the future."

"This is most strange." Sarutobi commented, more to himself than to the other man. "It seems that the flames have some sort of mental effect. I feel… I don't know, invigorated, just looking at them." He concentrated again, and the flames faded away.

Doctor Yakushi shook his head, before moving towards him, hands glowing with chakra. He examined the Hokage, before shrugging. "You seem to be in almost perfect health, my Lord. I suggest that you head to find something to eat. Your body could use some nutrition. Please excuse me, I must go and check on some other patients."

Sarutobi nodded as the doctor left. He rose from his bed, before walking out. He concentrated, before he glanced down at his hand, where a small flame had materialized.

He could feel the flames inside of him, giving him mental strength. His resolve was strengthened. This was just what he'd needed. The Will of Fire, made manifest. He would weather this storm. The Village would survive. He swore it.

* * *

Far beneath the Hokage, within the Depths, at the center of the explosion's radius, was a sphere of glowing light. Arcs of light connected it to the flattened ground of the crater. The sphere had been there since the moment the explosion had been released. Now, for the first time since its creation, the sphere changed. The light began to fade, the sphere sinking to the ground. It seemed to shrink into itself, revealing a humanoid figure.

It was male, with spiky blond hair. He was tall, and had powerful muscles. He looked to be in the prime of his life, in perfect condition. His cheeks had strange markings on them, three lines, like whiskers. He wore nothing at all.

Azure eyes shot open, glowing with power, as the man took in his first look of the ruined world around him.

* * *

**Well, there it is. The first chapter (well, prologue, really) of the Nightmare Star. I hope you liked it.**

**I'm not even sure if I'm going to keep this up or not, so please let me know. I probably won't start on the next chapter until I get 10 to 15 responses (Considering the number of reviews to my other stories, it's not that unreasonable to ask) as to whether or not I should write it in first or third, so let me know what you think about that as well. So please review!**


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